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Creative in association withGear Seven
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How Mill+ Turned Data into Art for ‘The Lush Spa Experiment’

02/11/2017
Post Production
London, UK
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End film is an artistic rendition of a person’s response to spa treatment
The Lush Spa Experiment was designed to capture biometric data. This data drove a series of unique and meditative visualisations, which mirror the multisensory experiences of a Lush Spa treatment. The film is an artistic rendition of the body’s response to the spa treatment.

Showcased for the first time in its entire length at this year’s Creative Showcase, the exclusive experiment transports viewers inside a spa treatment. The visuals look to highlight that it is not only just by touch that escapism can be realised, but also by smell and sonically, through the orchestration of music. The film represents that fully immersive experience.

Lush lead creative Tom Griffiths says: “How does one visualise let alone communicate such a personal and internal multi-sensory experience of our spa? This was the challenge. To do justice to the immense skill, development and attention to detail our treatments undertake. In response, we created a film that sets the raw data free, providing a visual representation of the body’s natural response to Lush Spa.”



Working with Mill+, the team engaged in a lengthy R&D process to capture live sensory data from a Lush treatment. Measuring the impact on the mind and body, specifically changes in heart rate, brain activity, muscle movement, sense of touch and breathing.  

The team constructed a bespoke technical methodology which collates this biometric data and transforms the recordings into CG representations of the multi-sensory experience. Each type of measurement has a unique set of visuals to demonstrate the transformative nature of a Lush treatment. 

Mill+ creative director Carl Addy adds: "The data captured was fascinating. It shows a clear correlation between the treatment and the subject’s biometric response. You can actually see the moments when a sound or touch elicited a shift in brain wave which then triggers a reaction in breath and heart rate."

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The Spa Experiment explores a sensory journey. 

Heart
The heart is at the core of a Lush spa experience. The heart data is seen as a pulsating mass, strengthened and highlighted through colour and light and mimicking the beat of a visual life force from its centre. As the outer rings of the beats travel further away from the apex they transform into waves of colour that dissipate into mist. 

Touch
In order to establish the physical experience of touch using animation, the team developed custom sensors that can pick up subtle details within complex motions. To establish the artistry of a Lush Spa therapist, each motion and stroke was depicted as a lasting impression on a tactile visualization. As movement travels over a responsive clay like surface, the markings of the touch can be seen as a hand crafted abstract sculpture. Smooth strokes as well as deeper massages are shown by how indented and varied their contours are.

Brain 
Brain activity is measured to analyse the moment of alertness and levels of calm from Alpha waves (showing a state of rest), to Beta (waves which show active thought), all the way through to Delta waves (which depict deep sleep). By creating an invisible network of nodes and points, bursts of electrical connectivity were visualised to show a brain that is frenetic in activity as well as slower longer bursts of connections, signifying a calmer brain. The brain activity shows the effect of the orchestration of all the other sensory experiences, tracking the overall effect and progress by referring to our brain waves to articulate what state of rest the brain is in.  

Breath
The creative team used the meditative advantages of breathing to promote a viewer’s state within the film. The natural rhythms were accurately depicted drawing on movement found in nature. Flowing tides of graphics pushing forward and back give the indication of the model’s breath with an elegant ebb and flow. 

Further Technical Info 
C4D animation was used to enhance the symbolic recordings, using bespoke rendering techniques to create physical elements and clusters of complex elements. Each type of data dictated the nature and form of the animation. 
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